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- Jul 19, 2015
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Hi guys!
I would like to give a piece of advice to both US seniors or IMG prepping for the usmle step 2 CS since I recently took it. (I havent taken step 1 or CK yet)
the reason why a lot of people might fail this exam is because they didn't prepared for it seriously enough. and thats something I realized for a fact as I was taking the exam. 10 of my 12 cases weren't easy, they weren't even pain. so what happens if you only go to this exam with only the pain mnemonic memorized. well you would fail. plain and simple.
So my advice is this:
Me and my study partner dedicated 3 weeks 12 hours per day studying, and eventhough I havent received my score yet I felt pretty comfortable I did passed because I didnt ran out of time in either the cases or PN and got time to do my counseling and ask every single question. so
1. Practice your timing. If you are missing time to do patient notes on time then I would advice you to practice under a 9 min setting till you get it done by 9 mins. just in case the day of the exam nerves might fail you and you might take longer. (I said a patient a diagnosis and outside when I was writing the patient note couldnt remember the name of the disease no matter how long I tried) but got other 2 diferentials so its fine. Also the timing for doing the cases is very important. if you are running out of time you should know what stuff you would sacrifice so the order would be Hx taking> counseling> physical exam( if you are really running out of time just do the system you need to stablish the diagnosis you are thinking)
2. MINI CASES(I cant stress this enough) If it wasnt that me and my SP made flashcards of the mini cases and I used to review them on the train, we just made them to make sure of what to ask besides the ROS and PMH they became super important since most of the cases were on the mini cases. and review also the differentials diagnosis. the day of the test you might not remember everything you do in your day to day practice. for example if I got a case that didnt required the LIQOPRAFAA(mnemonic for pain) I would take a longer time just writing down the differential so I knew what qs I should ask.
F.E. if I got a case of dizziness. my diferentials would be: palpitations, orthostatic hypotension, drugs S.E. , anemia. and for example for anemia then for ruling it out you should ask: heavy menstrual flow (women), colonoscopy( older than 50), diaphoresis, fatigue. etc.
Finally. to be honest, for some reason I thought this test was going to be easy. and surprise I found it pretty though. by being SUPER prepared I feel comfortable to relax. but guys ADVICE take this exam seriously because the cases I had werent all on the big cases of first aid. they were more on the mini cases which at first I didnt take serious enough.
Good Luck to you all! and gonna let you know my grades after I get them. If any other qs Im here.
(the case I used as an example didnt showed up on my test and for confidentiality reasons I cant say the ones I had but study those minicases guys)
I would like to give a piece of advice to both US seniors or IMG prepping for the usmle step 2 CS since I recently took it. (I havent taken step 1 or CK yet)
the reason why a lot of people might fail this exam is because they didn't prepared for it seriously enough. and thats something I realized for a fact as I was taking the exam. 10 of my 12 cases weren't easy, they weren't even pain. so what happens if you only go to this exam with only the pain mnemonic memorized. well you would fail. plain and simple.
So my advice is this:
Me and my study partner dedicated 3 weeks 12 hours per day studying, and eventhough I havent received my score yet I felt pretty comfortable I did passed because I didnt ran out of time in either the cases or PN and got time to do my counseling and ask every single question. so
1. Practice your timing. If you are missing time to do patient notes on time then I would advice you to practice under a 9 min setting till you get it done by 9 mins. just in case the day of the exam nerves might fail you and you might take longer. (I said a patient a diagnosis and outside when I was writing the patient note couldnt remember the name of the disease no matter how long I tried) but got other 2 diferentials so its fine. Also the timing for doing the cases is very important. if you are running out of time you should know what stuff you would sacrifice so the order would be Hx taking> counseling> physical exam( if you are really running out of time just do the system you need to stablish the diagnosis you are thinking)
2. MINI CASES(I cant stress this enough) If it wasnt that me and my SP made flashcards of the mini cases and I used to review them on the train, we just made them to make sure of what to ask besides the ROS and PMH they became super important since most of the cases were on the mini cases. and review also the differentials diagnosis. the day of the test you might not remember everything you do in your day to day practice. for example if I got a case that didnt required the LIQOPRAFAA(mnemonic for pain) I would take a longer time just writing down the differential so I knew what qs I should ask.
F.E. if I got a case of dizziness. my diferentials would be: palpitations, orthostatic hypotension, drugs S.E. , anemia. and for example for anemia then for ruling it out you should ask: heavy menstrual flow (women), colonoscopy( older than 50), diaphoresis, fatigue. etc.
Finally. to be honest, for some reason I thought this test was going to be easy. and surprise I found it pretty though. by being SUPER prepared I feel comfortable to relax. but guys ADVICE take this exam seriously because the cases I had werent all on the big cases of first aid. they were more on the mini cases which at first I didnt take serious enough.
Good Luck to you all! and gonna let you know my grades after I get them. If any other qs Im here.
(the case I used as an example didnt showed up on my test and for confidentiality reasons I cant say the ones I had but study those minicases guys)
